For my graduate level, ENGL 600 class, we had to write a daily blog post of 500 words exactly on Medium Not 499, not 501 but 500 exactly. I decided to bring my medium blogs over here too after writing them. These were all written earlier this August-September.
On the school bus I sat with a boy named Charlie who lived just up the road from me. He was a few grade levels ahead, but we sat together anyway. I was probably a pain in the butt to deal with, but with Charlie I decided we should pretend like we were recording a TV show each day we rode the bus. We played different characters. We’d plan what the story would be and roughly improv the story. I’d come up with characters like Candy from Maine because Maine sounded cool and mysterious to me as a child. We’d get into it by being loud, in character, and expressing our emotions on our artificial bus seat stage. The best days for it was when they’d have to take the snow route making our shows even longer.
The other kids on the bus hated it. They’d purposely try to separate us from being able to sit together. When we’d be separated, the other kids would gloat that we couldn’t do our shows. Eventually Charlie moved on to middle school before me, and told me he didn’t want to do our shows anymore.
When I went to middle school, I signed up to be in theater classes. I wanted to take what I was doing on the school bus and be in a real theatrical production. The only problem I had with that was that we were doing musicals in the theater class primarily. Our second year, the big musical was Beauty and the Beast. I knew I wasn’t going to be Belle because of my lack of singing ability, but I was cast as many small roles all at once. I continued doing theater in high school by joining the One Act play team. I felt like the director didn’t like me, as she never casted me in anything major even in my senior year and continued the trend of me playing multiple parts but small. It destroyed my acting confidence especially when she mentioned everyone else in the Senior Awards BUT me.
When I went to Kutztown University, I gave up the famous actress dream and decided to stick with my writing. However, I did pick up a minor in Performance and Storytelling. When my professor wrote a play for an acting class, I auditioned like my life was on the line. I tried to have a flawless audition because I didn’t want to be stuck playing the small, but many roles archetype I have been in. In some ways being able to play multiple parts is a compliment, but when your dream is to be a star or a main character, it is hard to feel that way. At the end of auditions I was told she could see me playing any part I auditioned for. I was cast as Io, one of the main Greek Goddesses of the play. I was finally having one major part, and the little girl on the school bus was so pleased.
